First-Click Time Measurements

TL;DR

This paper develops a quantum framework for measuring the first detection time of a particle, revealing how conditioning on non-detection influences the arrival time distribution.

Contribution

It introduces a novel first-click time-of-arrival distribution within the Page and Wootters formalism, incorporating a memory mechanism for successive detection outcomes.

Findings

Conditioning on non-detection shifts probability toward earlier arrival times.

First-click distributions are narrower and sharper than unconditioned ones.

Quantum interference persists in the conditioned distributions, affected by time resolution.

Abstract

There are two distinct perspectives on the quantum time-of-arrival: one can ask for the probability that a particle is found at the detector at a given time, regardless of whether it was previously detected, or for the probability that the particle is detected there for the first time. In this work, we analyze the latter by constructing the time-of-arrival distribution conditioned on the particle not having been detected at earlier times -- the first-click distribution. We work within the Page and Wootters formalism, where time is treated as a quantum observable, and introduce a memory mechanism that records the outcomes of successive detection attempts separated by the detector's finite time resolution. We apply this framework to a single Gaussian wave packet and to a superposition of two overlapping wave packets. We find that conditioning on non-detection redistributes probability toward earlier arrival times, producing narrower and sharper distributions compared with the standard unconditioned case. This effect persists in the presence of quantum interference, though coarser time resolutions broaden the distribution and shift it toward later times.